For students in the Villanova School of Business, and schools all across the country, one of the most stressful aspects of our time spent here is finding an internship. While I am only a freshman and still a year removed from looking for serious internships that will lead to jobs, it does not hurt to get started now. Two of the VSB clubs I am very involved in, the Mergers & Acquisitions Society and Equity Society are both heavily invested in helping members of the club through the internship hunt. On November 1st the two clubs came together to host the Junior Internship Panel.
The panel consisted of five current seniors who were members of one of the clubs and held internship positions in investment banking over the summer. Directed by another student, the panel answered questions on a variety of topics, ranging from how they got the internship to their experiences at their respective firms. The members of the panel had very different experiences, whether it be working as a summer analyst at a boutique investment firm like Financial Technology Partners, or a global giant like Goldman Sachs or Barclays.
I left the panel with several key takeaways that will certainly help guide my decision making in the potential future hunt for an investment banking job. The first and probably most important thing for right now, is not to stress out. These internships are quite simply not for students only coming out of freshman year, so there is no need to freak out and feel like other students are somehow ahead of us. While there is no need to panic, this does not mean we cannot start working to get ahead in the internship hunt, which can be done in several ways. The first, a major key reinforced constantly by VSB and its clubs, is networking. Even if it starts as random emails to someone you have never met before, it is the best way to get your foot in the door. A random email can strike up a relationship with people who may be extremely helpful in the future. The other thing that we can begin working on, which goes hand in hand with the networking, is getting some sort of internship in the financial services sphere in the coming summer. Based on the experiences the panel provided, these internships can be just about anything, but like networking, are a way to get your foot in the door and learn more about the financial services world.
The panel went on to describe the period closer to obtaining the internship, mainly reinforcing the importance of networking as well as getting into the interview process. Several of the members of the panel really proved the great benefits of their networking when they were interviewed by people they had already developed a strong relationship with.
After talking about how they obtained the internships, the remainder of the time was dedicated to their time as interns. A lot of what I heard, such as ridiculously long work hours and competitive working environments, was expected, but nonetheless very interesting to hear firsthand. While they all gave their fair warnings about what many would consider the obvious downsides of these internships and future careers in investment banking, they ultimately all came to the conclusion that it was very worth it. While these internships are definitely difficult to obtain, they are opportunities that cannot be passed up if you seek to work in investment banking, due to the experience you will gain and exposure to high ranking individuals who can be extremely helpful in the future.
As someone who is strongly considering pursuing a future in the field of investment banking, I found the panel to be a very interesting insight into what I can expect in the internship process that is a crucial aspect of the job hunt.
Here is an interesting link pertaining to finding an internship and what to expect when there:
http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/investment-banking-summer-intern-success-guide
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